Cancer Death Rates Decline Among Americans

Americans are not only alive in good health, but also taking benefit of enhanced cancer showing, and reaping the benefits of new cancer treatments. All these factors are all major contributors to the continued decline in both cancer death rates and number of new cases diagnosed within the United States.

Good News
The good news was reported. The report was based on data gathered from the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. National Cancer Institute, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

The report result revealed that rates of cancer death, as well as the number of new cancer cases have considerably dropped among Americans. Among men, the overall decreases are mostly due to a significant turn down in the occurrence and death rate of both lung and prostate cancer (the two leading cancers in men), as well as in colon cancer. For women, there has been a substantial drop in both breast and colon cancers, which are two of the three leading cancers in women.

A decline of almost 1 percent annually was noted for newly diagnosed cancer cases for all types of cancer between years 1999 and 2006, and the rate of cancer deaths decreased by 1.6 percent per year from 2001 to 2006. Although cancer rates remain higher for men than for women, the report showed that men had the largest declines in both new cases and death.

Statistical Report

Regarding the statistics, report author report author Brenda K. Edwards, associate director of the Surveillance Research Program at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, said, “For me, when I see the downturn in some cancers it says we can actually address the cancer burden through a variety of efforts.” However, she noted that there is still a long way to go in the battle against cancer by saying, “We see the downturn in mortality, but we still have almost 1.5 million people with new cancer diagnoses in 2009. So, we still have a large number of people affected. For some of them, we have relatively effective treatments and for others not so.”

For colorectal cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, as well as the third most-diagnosed cancer among both men and women, the overall cancer rates are continuing to decrease. However, the decline is mainly among seniors over 65, whereas the number of cases among men and women under the age of 50 is actually increasing. According to the report, by taking steps to live healthier lifestyles including quitting smoking, as well as by getting screened for colon cancer, and seeking proper treatment for the disease, the death rate for colon cancer would plummet by 50 percent by the year 2020.

Other findings reported included that for men, cases of oral cavity, stomach and brain cancers have declined, whereas cases of kidney/renal, liver and esophageal cancer, as well as leukemia, myeloma and melanoma are on the rise. For women, cases of uterine, ovarian, cervical and oral cavity cancers have dropped, while cases of lung, thyroid, pancreatic, bladder and kidney cancers, as well as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, melanoma and leukemia are increasing.
For racial and ethnic groups, cancer death rates were found to be highest in black men and women, and lowest in Asian/Pacific Islander men and women. Breast cancer ranked as the leading cancer among Hispanic women, while liver cancer outranked prostate cancer among Asian/Pacific Islander men.

According to the American Cancer Society, of the nearly 1.5 million Americans diagnosed with cancer in 2009, more than 562,000 will lose their lives to the disease. Although a decline in the both the number of cancer cases, and the cancer death rate is expected to continue, many more lives could be saved if Americans would take action to reduce their risk of cancer by getting appropriate screenings for cancers such as breast and colon cancer, as well as by not smoking, eating healthy, exercising, and maintaining a healthy weight.